More On TV: Gossip Girl

More On TV: Gossip Girl

I’m not going to advocate Gossip Girl as anything more than mindless fun. Except…

It’s the characters.

I began watching Gossip Girl The weekend of July 13th. It’s eighteen days later and, despite working full time, writing, critting in a couple of marathon sessions for my CP, and just generally rearing children, I have managed to watch nearly five full seasons

This show has flaws:

Writing that often serves the needs of the plot rather than the organic growth of the characters.

Reversals in feelings and character consistency are another, but those happen more in characters that are, quite frankly, rather flaky.

But, at the end of my four or five episodes day, I care about the characters. Some I like. Some I love like damn and whoa.

Blair & Chuck

Oh, what a wreck these two are. I’m not sure they deserve anyone or any amount of happiness. They’re so incredibly flawed, but that’s the easy part. They could’ve quickly been written off as one-dimensional villains. But, no. They’re redeemable. I understand what motivates them.

They have pleasures in life that anyone can identify with, like Blair’s passion for old movies and Chuck, a man who received about as much nurturing as a kitten whose mother tried to eat it, who is quietly devoted to his dog.

But, I didn’t truly become enamored with these characters until they fell in love with one another. And, here, with these on-the-surface terrible people I saw a thoughtfully written, consuming, passionate affair for the ages play out. This is the real thing. This is that magic something, lightning in a bottle, that writers hope to capture.

Even when a show isn’t brilliant, we can still learn from what works. ~ Click to Tweet